Marisacat

Open Thread 25 July 2006

Washington – US congressional Democrats voiced alarm on Tuesday about Iraq’s denunciation of Israel in the Mideast conflict, and some said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s upcoming address to Congress should be cancelled unless he apologises.

A group of House of Representatives Democrats was circulating a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert urging the Illinois Republican to secure an apology from Maliki or cancel the address on Wednesday to a joint meeting of Congress.

Ron Bonjean, Hastert’s spokesman, said there was no intention to cancel Maliki’s speech, and accused Democrats of “political gamesmanship during an election year”.

Wiff of a tiff there!… and what was the upshot of all the Big D Democratic yelling for their pacifier?? (what an image!) Don’t miss this:

With more than 2 500 US service members killed in the Iraq conflict, more than 18 000 wounded and more than $300 billion in US tax dollars spent, the Senate Democrats said,

“Americans deserve to know whether Iraq in an ally in these fights.”

Whammo!, take that! say the Dems.

I don’t know, I think we asked all of that, before the deaths, before the maiming – and we did not demand that the ordinary people of Iraq, living in the country we invaded, be our ALLY in their destruction.

There’s practically a holy consensus right now that the war in the North is a just war and that morality is on our side.

The bitter truth must be said: this holy consensus is based on short-range selective memory, an introverted worldview, and double standards.

This war is not a just war.

Israel is using excessive force without distinguishing between civilian population and enemy, whose sole purpose is extortion. That is not to say that morality and justice are on Hezbollah’s side. Most certainly not. But the fact that Hezbollah “started it” when it kidnapped soldiers from across an international border does not even begin to tilt the scales of justice toward our side. [snip]

Whole lotta war-making going on. And the people under the bombs, across several countries, are told to suck it up. Amazing!

Worse yet, bombing infrastructure targets such as power stations, bridges and other civil facilities turns the entire Lebanese civilian population into a victim and hostage, even if we are not physically harming civilians. The use of bombings to achieve a diplomatic goal – namely, coercing the Lebanese government into implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1559 – is an attempt at political blackmail, and no less than the kidnapping of IDF soldiers by Hezbollah is the aim of bringing about a prisoner exchange.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Just what is Israel up to?

Jean-François Legrain of the French think tank CNRS explains (original article in French can be found at Le Figaro).

The events unfolding in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon over the last few weeks are linked by timing and, above all, by the same political considerations. Observers are nearly unanimous in recognizing the disconnect between the objectives announced by the Israeli government (to free its soldier-prisoners and to prevent rocket attacks) and the systematic destruction of Palestinian and Lebanese civilian infrastructures. It is timely to set out to investigate the real reasons behind these long-planned military campaigns in response to acts brought about by Israeli policies.

Israel’s policies are characterized by unilateralism, an idea conceived by Ariel Sharon with the support of Labour. Based solely on balance of power, it aims to restate the dissuasive capability of the State of Israel to impose its own solution on the entire region through violence inflicted on civilian populations while relying on the acquiescence of the international community. [snip]

Well… I’d say that last there is a bingo. And it sounds familiar. Very Bushite approach. Impose thru violence and be assured that few – or no one – want to oppose you.

Those inside these zones of occupation pleaded over the years for help. We refused to listen. And once they burst through these barriers, enraged, bloodied, bent on revenge, we recoiled in horror, unable to see our complicity. We asked them to be quiet, to be reasonable, to calm down, and when they did not, their blood heated by years of abuse and neglect, we condemned them to their fate.

The barrier built by Israel in the West Bank is one of the most tangible and important symbols of this long humiliation, this strangulation of the Palestinians by Israel. To understand the role of this barrier is to begin to understand the rage it has now unleashed. Understanding is not excusing, but until we grasp that these militants do not come from another moral universe, until we face our own complicity in their creation and the awful violence now underway in Lebanon and the occupied territories, we cannot begin to understand the gross injustices that fuel these militant movements. It was, after all, the $10 billion in loan guarantees by the United States that made this barrier possible.

My guess would be if intentional it was done to check (and there is none, from earlier reports) viability for an International peacekeeping force. I heard some talk this am of a force drawn from Egyptian and Turkish nationals.

LOL Doubt that would go down well…

UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says.

The early evidence suggests strongly that Shiites will emerge from this war even more politicized than before July 12, when the Israeli onslaught began. This war is consolidating sectarian loyalties, reinforcing the role of religious institutions and only heightening distrust of the US and major Arab states – most prominently Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Just because many tens of thousands of Lebanese Shiites may have to live in tents does not mean that they are going to emerge from this war a diminished political force. I expect the contrary to be true. There will be two beneficiaries of their politicization: Hizbullah and Iran.

Senator Reid is among the Dems who vote FOR Ensign’s bill making assisting a teen to cross state lines to obtain an abortion a FEDERAL CRIME, from the SF Chron:

Senate votes to bar abortion in other states for some minors
House has OKd a similar measure, and Bush backs both

(07-26) 04:00 PDT Washington — The Senate moved back into the abortion battle Tuesday, voting to make it a federal crime to transport a minor across state lines to have an abortion if it bypasses state law requiring parental notification or consent.

The overwhelming 64-34 vote gives the measure a good chance at enactment this year. A similar measure already has passed the House, and both bills enjoy President Bush’s strong backing.

The vote was the first on the issue since similar legislation died eight years ago during the Clinton administration. The bill is one of a long-running series of Republican-led efforts to restrict abortion while stopping short of banning it, since the Supreme Court has held since 1973 that the right to abortion is protected by the Constitution. It adds abortion to the GOP’s election-year push on such divisive social issues as same-sex marriage and flag burning.

Reid has NEVER missed a chance to restrict women’s rights wrt to reproductive freedom. Batting strong for Democrats for Life, where he is an All Star (pdf.).

It took the Republicans about three weeks to make the Democratic politicians in Washington look like confused polled cattle. The ease and frequency with which the Republicans are able to emasculate the Democrats is past all get out.

Once again, there are the D’s out in the pasture with no horns and no balls. They had it done to them two years ago, when they and their candidate, John Kerry, allowed themselves to be ruined by the Swift Boat Veterans nonsense. How in Sam Hill does a national political party which led the United States into four major wars in the last century get itself tabbed again and again by its opponents as the cut-and-run party, the party of woofters, poofters and wankers?

This has been going on since the Civil War, as the Democrats have been successfully and successively defined by the G.O.P. as the Copperhead pro-slavery party, the soft-on-communism party and now the soft-on-national-defense party.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed 16 Palestinians in fighting across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including at least nine militants, a three-year-old girl and a handicapped man, medics and witnesses said.

Israel has stepped up air strikes and launched raids into Gaza to stop rocket attacks and recover a soldier captured by militants on June 25. The army has killed 137 Palestinians since it began its assault. About half were civilians.

Wednesday’s death toll in Gaza was the highest in two weeks. Among those killed were seven loyalists of the governing Hamas militant group and one gunman from the kindred Islamic Jihad faction, which is also dedicated to destroying Israel.

Another gunman was killed later, but it was not clear which group he was from.

Medics said a three-year-old and six others were killed, including a handicapped man. At least 50 people were wounded, including a cameraman for Palestinian television.

Madman at LSF takes a look back at the USS Liberty, bombed (Oh! SO sorry!) by the Israeli AF, but as diversion…

Have to say, given some history from past Israeli military actions, another “regrettable accident” that happened to observers, one has to wonder if perhaps there isn’t something that happened, or is PLANNED to happen, that the Israelis don’t want observed, recorded or reported? From the link above, regarding the USS Liberty:

By 9:50 am, the minaret at El Arish could be seen with the naked eye like a solitary mast in a sea of sand. Although no one on the ship knew it at the time, the Liberty had suddenly trespassed into a private horror. At that very moment, near the minaret, Israeli forces were engaged in a criminal slaughter.

Three days after Israel had launched the six- day war, Egyptian prisoners in the Sinai had become a nuisance. There was no place to house them, not enough Israelis to watch them, and few vehicles to transport them to prison camps. But there was another way to deal with them.

… and he takes a look at the present day Dems and their high stress notes over al Maliki. My, they seem more perturbed over his words, then they did over KATRINA.

We started a war of days. It turned into a war of weeks. Now they are speaking of a war of months. Our army started a “surgical” action of the Air Force, afterwards it sent small units into Lebanon, now whole brigades are fighting there, and reservists are being called up in large numbers for a wholesale 1982-style invasion.

Some people already foresee that the war may roll towards a confrontation with Syria.

All this time, the United States has been using all its might in order to prevent the cessation of hostilities. All signs indicate that it is pushing Israel towards a war with Syria – a country that has ballistic missiles with chemical and biological warheads.

Tasini, a man made of asbestos – or courage, has a diary at DKos… on the true third rail, Israel and NY politics. In fairness, the top of the thread is pretty low key…

Sombody’s god should bless him.

Here is the lay of the land for you, just caught on Fox News: that we should not worry, no shrines to do with “Jesus and Mary” have been damaged in Nazareth.

And then wtih barely a breath, they said that it would ”speed up the war” to “napalm whole neighborhoods” but out of concern for Lebanese life, the Israelis would not do that. Nor use “bombs packed with grenades”.

As Lebanon continues to be pounded by Israeli bombs and munitions, the justification for Israel’s invasion is treading on very thin ice. It has become general knowledge that it was Hezbollah guerillas that first kidnapped two IDF soldiers inside Israel on July 12, prompting an immediate and violent response from the Israeli government, which insists it is acting in the interest of national defense. Israeli forces have gone on to kill over 370 innocent Lebanese civilians (compared to 34 killed on Israel’s side) while displacing hundreds of thousands more. But numerous reports from international and independent media, as well as the Associated Press, raise questions about Israel’s official version of the events that sparked the conflict two weeks ago.

The original story, as most media tell it, goes something like this: Hezbollah attacked an Israeli border patrol station, killing six and taking two soldiers hostage. The incident happened on the Lebanese/Israel border in Israeli territory. The alternate version, as explained by several news outlets, tells a bit of a different tale: These sources contend that Israel sent a commando force into southern Lebanon and was subsequently attacked by Hezbollah near the village of Aitaa al-Chaab, well inside Lebanon’s southern territory. It was at this point that an Israel tank was struck by Hezbollah fighters, which resulted in the capture of two Israeli soldiers and the death of six. [cont.]

Lots of links within going to the sources that counter the official Israeli line.

Ron Bonjean, Hastert’s spokesman, said there was no intention to cancel Maliki’s speech, and accused Democrats of “political gamesmanship during an election year”.

And what tin-eared “gamesmanship” it is. Things are at the point in the ME that the Bush administration must actually try to behave somewhat responsibly (at least from their point of reference). They need to treat Maliki decently because of what the situation requires in Iraq.

So the Dems see an oppotunity to outflank the Repubs as AIPAC’s syncophants. They are so excited. But where do they hope to gain an advantage? Rev. Hagee’s followers, perhaps?

If they were listening, they’d understand that the political opportunity (just speaking cynically here) lies on the other side. More and more people are fed up with Israel and blind U. S. support for it.

Tin-eared. But there’s hope. Kos has a new piano and he’s very into music now. He will teach the Dems to sing a new song.

LONDON – US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is considering provoking a military confrontation with Syria by attacking Hizbullah bases near the Syrian border in Lebanon, according to the authoritative London-based Jane’s Intelligence Digest.

It noted that the deployment of US special forces in the Bekaa Valley, where most of Syria’s occupation forces in Lebanon are based, would be highly inflammatory and would “almost certainly involve a confrontation with Syrian troops.”

“Targeting Syria via Lebanon, the only concrete political influence Damascus has to show following decades of radical diplomacy could prove to be a means to that end.”

First of all this re confirms my suspicion that the Democratic Party is just and extenstion of the travelling GOP show.. playing the Washington Generals to the GOP Harleem Globetrotters.

Step back and it makes perfect sense…

Maliki is in Washington to secure MORE US Troops to kill MORE OF HIS PEOPLE in Baghdad… of course he has to publically “distance” himself from the US actions in the ME.

It has not gone amiss the eery similarities between the US invasion of Iraq and Israel’s Invasion of Lebanon.

If all this sounds familiar — the half-baked war plan, the unexpected setbacks, the frantic search for foreign legions, the lack of an exit strategy, the rising tide of blood — it certainly should. We’ve already seen this movie, in fact we’re still sitting through the last reel. It’s a hell of a time to release the sequel.

This is where the Democratic poodle show comes in… being the Washington Generals and not the Trotters themselves… the Democrats always get stuck with the part making the GOP “look good” ie professional and reasonable.

No one would have probably not notice if they were not TRYING to fan the flames (kinda like Delaware Dem writing nearly 100 comments on the Uppity Nigra blogad… like he was TRYING to get people to notice or something… another aside… I see that in DD latest diary that they must be in the midst of updating DHinMI subscribers info database “Whos’s who in the zoo?)

I think it’s four WJ callers now, in a row, first batch, pissed off at US and Israel on WJ. (Okay, caller #5 is a nut. She is PRO Israel and mad at Koffi… okay, that fits… and the …Democrats? Whoa, lady. Get the fuck up to speed. The Democrats are doing everything but writing XOXOXO’s on Israeli missiles.) Since then a handful more of callers – it seems about 2 to 1 are against Israel/US.

So, who in the Democrats is representing this growing majority that is fed up with the cojoined twins and the havoc they are wreaking with their insane ME policy/plans/actions?

Shall we all move to Congressman Conyers’ district? How about McDermott’s? (Two of the 7 who refused to AYE the lockstep “Israel is just defending itself, we support it in all it does” resolution.)

This letter writing to Maliki and the boycott reminds me so much of the stunt Congressional Dems pulled when Dean said we must be an evenhanded broker and huge settlements must go. Gee, he was speaking for using diplomacy and observing international law re occupations. Tsk tsk.

I am disgusted beyond words, really. On so many levels. Like the WOT angle they are hitting Maliki over the head with. Where do you stand, Maliki? Look at all we’ve done for you! How ungrateful can you be? Durbin looks especially horrid, because he should know better re this WOT (WFT- War For Terror) venture in Iraq… that he voted against. It is a nightmare we gifted them with. Any ten seconds of the news for days, months, years will tell you so. Yes, Maliki, stand with us in our nightmarish folly. Every act. Especially when Israel is involved. You are seriously out of the loop. You are either with us (Israel) or agin’ us!

The bad movie continues, getting worse, and we must both watch it and be in it.

This is primarily devoted to the Balkans conflict, although some of the technology is clearly applicable to documentation the systematic destruction of residential areas of south Beirut.

In particular this:

GIS, Geographic Information System, is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing things that exist and events that happen on Earth. Examples are natural disasters, overpopulation, pollution, war, and all other major challenges in the world today – all that have a critical geographic dimension. With GIS, we can perform better and faster tasks of creating maps, integrating information, visualizing scenarios, solving complicated problems, presenting powerful ideas, and developing effective solutions. Today, GIS is widely used by individuals, private and public organizations, schools, governments, and businesses. For instance, GIS is used by enterprise to locate new businesses sites, explain events, predict outcomes, and plan strategies. In GIS technology, common database operations such as query and statistical analysis are integrated with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits offered by maps.

According to a detailed timeline of the incident provided by an unidentified UN officer and reported by CNN, the first bomb exploded around 200 metres from the post at 1.20pm (11.20am BST) yesterday.

Unifil observers then telephoned their designated contact with the Israeli military, who assured them the attacks would stop. In the following hours, nine more bombs fell close to the post, each one followed by a call to the Israeli military, the UN officer said.

In the face of United States opposition, an international conference here today stopped short of calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Lebanon crisis. The conference instead adopted more nebulous language that reflected America’s desire to give Israel time to continue its bombardment of Hezbollah targets.

Most of the officials in the room were seeking, at the very least, a phrase that said the group would “work towards an immediate ceasefire,” one of the diplomats said. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refused, and won, he said.

“She insisted it say ‘work immediately to bring a ceasefire,’ not ‘work to bring an immediate ceasefire,’” the diplomat said. He said that the group argued about that for more than 30 minutes before ceding the point to the United States.

What is the meaning of “is”? Reminds one a lot of the legalistic haggling over the meaning of “genocide” in the Rwanda days…

“This is a region that has had too many broken cease-fires,’’ Ms. Rice said at the conference’s conclusion. “Therefore, our position is ‘Kill ‘em all, let God sort it out.'”

Okay, I made some of that up.

During the closed door session, diplomats said, Mr. Siniora gave a heartrending speech which left many in the room calling for immediate action. “Is the value of human life less in Lebanon than that of citizens elsewhere?” Mr. Siniora asked. “Are we children of a lesser God? Is an Israeli teardrop worth more than a drop of Lebanese blood?”

Diplomats said there was visible emotion around the room after Mr. Siniora’s comments. During her remarks after the conference, Ms. Rice acknowledged Mr. Siniora’s “very impassioned’’ speech, saying he had “put a human face’’ on the crisis.

Well Condi, if you want God to sort it out, be advised that the meek shall inherit the earth.

14 Dems (as opposed to 4 GOP including Chaffee… I guess that is why Kos is bashing hin on the FP) crossed over to vote with Republicans on forcing girls not to be able to have abortions out of state because supposedly they believe in the “Culture of Life” … then in the next fucking breath… Reid (the weak assed bastard) leadsthe Democrats in a battle forcing Maliki to withdraw his denouncement of the Israeli slaughtering of innocent Lebanese civilians…

… Lastest rumor is that Hilliary and Schumer are set to confirm Bolton as UN Ambassador.

Fuck em all…

Didn’t Kos say that electing anti choice Democrats would “PROTECT” choice… that it is only their “personal” opinion that they would never vote against abortion rights… the lying little shit. Any minute he will have the Casey polling scores front page… and touting Kleeb etc.

Still waiting for the FDL ladies to say something… or do they proclaim to speak for women’s reproductive rights when it suits them to bash NARAL and/or Lieberman… silly cows.

Well… this is not foreign policy… but there is still a black out on ALL OF THE LINKED BOYZ BLOGS….

From the beginning of this race, I was committed to speaking the truth, whether about the Iraq war/occupation or abusive corporate power or the corruption coursing through our political system. People are simply fed up with the pandering, the triangulation and the inability to speak the truth that is endangering our country’s future, our relations in the world and our well-being at home. We need a real opposition party, a Democratic Party with a vision that has the spine to stand for something authentic and honest.

Voters should know a little about where I come from on the issue of Israel-Palestine and the raging conflict engulfing the region today. I speak about Israel out of love and pain, in the same way that I am a deeply patriotic American who is harshly critical of our government and its behavior in Iraq–and of Hillary Clinton’s vote to send our men and women to die into an illegal, immoral war.

My father was born in then-Palestine. He fought in the Haganah (the Israeli underground) in the war of independence; my father’s cousin, whose name I carry as a middle name, was killed in that war. I lived in Israel for seven years, during which I went through the 1973 war: a cousin of mine was killed in that war, leaving a young widow and two children, and his brother was wounded. My step-grandfather, an old man who was no threat to anyone, was killed by a Palestinian who took an axe to his head while he was sitting quietly on a park bench. Half my family still lives in Israel. I have seen enough bloodshed, tears, and parents burying their children to last many lifetimes.

For that reason, I believe passionately in a two-state solution, which includes a strong, independent, economically viable Palestinian state existing along side a strong, independent, economically vibrant Israel. It is the only solution that will bring peace to the civilians who now live in fear of death raining down from above–either because of the missiles of Hezbollah or the bombs of Israeli aircraft.

I do not believe Israel is a terrorist state. I do believe that Israel has committed acts that violate international standards and the Geneva conventions. In Israel, such a statement that the military has committed acts that violate the Geneva convention and international standards and has also engaged in torture (or, as it is called, “moderate pressure”) would be a subject of debate but hardly considered novel or particularly radical. Among the many sources for the truth, beyond my personal experience, is the Israeli human rights organization, B’Tselem. If you visit the organization’s website, you will find condemnation of both Israeli and Palestinian violence against civilians of each side.

The single most transparent item on the menu at Kos is the slobber for Reid. A mediocre hack. Gosh he makes Mitchell look like some towering presence.

Slime and slugs. LOL And Blog Maids. You hang with a nasty misogynist – esp one who propagates what passes for political thought (I REALLY recommend reading page 3 and 4 of the tapper interview with the Kidlet), you are not for women, not in the least.

I do not believe that Senator Clinton is a friend of Israel. A friend of Israel, not someone who simply seeks votes, would understand that employing collective punishment against people in Lebanon only embitters a population, possibly for generations, and that even a short-term military victory will be empty if it leaves behind a shattered country. As an article in The New York Times illustrated: “We’re not Hezbollah supporters, but we cannot excuse what the Israelis are doing,” said Rima Beydoun, a secular Shiite who owns an advertising agency. “We knew there would be repercussions, but no one expected they would be like this,” Mr. Salhab, the filmmaker, said of Shiite support for Hezbollah. “I am very critical of that part of my country, but I have to put it aside, because we are being destroyed. At this point, I can’t just say: Hezbollah, go to hell.”

A friend of Israel, not someone who simply seeks votes, would never have stood before the “security wall” in the West Bank, as Senator Clinton did, and praised it–even though it has been found to be illegal under international law and by the Israeli Supreme Court (which said that, if a wall needed to be built, it should not stray outside the “green line” into the occupied territories). A friend of Israel would argue strenuously that Israel’s moral fiber and its security is weakened every moment that that wall stands in its place, in violation of the law of Israel, severing families from their land, separating people and filling more people with rage and despair.

A friend of Israel, not someone who simply seeks votes, would deplore the collective punishment employed by the Israeli army in Gaza. As Rabbi Michael Lerner has suggested, in the wake of the democratic elections that brought Hamas to power in Gaza, “Instead of narrowly focusing on Hamas’ capacity to make war, the Israelis chose the path of collective punishment, a frequently ineffective counterinsurgency policy used to eliminate public support for resistance movements. In the height of the oppressive summer heat, Israel bombed the electricity grid, effectively cutting off Gaza’s water and the electricity needed to keep refrigeration working, thereby guaranteeing a dramatic decrease in food for the area’s already destitute, million plus population. This act was yet another violation of international law that include[d] the arrests of thousands by Israelis and the shooting of Qassams at population centers by Hamas.”

I make this offer: we need an open debate about our policy in the Palestine-Israel conflict. I have challenged Senator Clinton to come out into the public arena, to stop hiding behind her spokespeople and spinners and image consultants. Let’s debate the future of Israel and Palestine, publicly, on television, in front of the voters. Right now, in the coming days because the violence in the Middle East is rising. Pick the time and place.

How to spot a Republican… they can never admit when they are wrong or admit defeat… which is the only reason the US is not yet out of Iraq… it was lost months ago… no matter how many “elections” were held.

Same goes for the blogsnots… they are unfuckingbelieveable:

(7) I wouldn’t say that this factual account of the Israeli bombing from the Guardian justifies Kofi Annan’s accusation that the bombing was “deliberate” — that is an accusation which ought not to be made absent definitive proof, especially in such volatile circumstances — but if the facts in the Guardian story are accurate, it would certainly lend support to the claim that the Israelis were, at the very least, completely reckless with regard to the lives of the U.N. peacekeepers.

I think I liked it better when the blogidiots just kept their mouths shut..

The Bush Administration has put in power in Iraq a Shia Islamist alliance with strong ties to Iran. This has helped Iran along in its quest for regional dominance. That dominance is now challenged by Israel’s actions in Lebanon. The Sunni Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt are beside themselves trying to figure out how to stake out a position that is anti-Israel and yet does not give Iran even more regional power. Throw Syria’s shaky alliance with Iran into the mix and you have the makings of a regional powder keg. This powder keg has fuses in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Any one of these fuses can be lit to create a regional conflagration. The matter is very serious and has far reaching consequences for the region, the world and the United States.

Yet, are the most prominent liberal bloggers discussing it? With a few notable exceptions, the answer is no. It is as if the war in Lebanon was not happening. Some liberal bloggers have now come out to explain their silence. It would have been better if they had remained silent. Because their excuses are juvenile.

The excuse for not covering the Israel-Lebanon war from the liberal bloggers appears to be that it is “complicated”, that it is “complex”, that it not in the area of their expertise, and that it does not have any domestic impact. Like I said, it would have been better to remain silent.

If bloggers ever decided to not cover any “complex” issues, then they would have to stop blogging about stem cells, NSA wiretapping, the Iraq war, the Iranian nuclear issue, the search for WMD, al Qaeda, global warming, the CIA leak case, etc. (Did I leave anything out?). If bloggers stopped blogging about things that were not in their area of expertise then, well, I am afraid most bloggers should stop blogging. Most of these bloggers are citizen journalists, not “experts” – yet they opine on many things of interest to them. Finally, the suggestion that this war does not have domestic implications is simply laughable. The United States funds Israel to the tune of billions of dollars a year. It is the largest recipient of US foreign aid in the world. Our tax dollars and our missiles are being spent on the bombing of Lebanon – that makes it a serious domestic bread and butter issue. Oh, and one look at the gas pump should also give you an indication that this war has domestic ramifications.

BMT
writes up a little in Defense of Kos for why we all need to oppose Lieberman. But this sentence gets me, it sounded so much like a “it’s always Marsha marsha marsha” tantrum over Kos.

It concerns me that Daily Kos and Markos are consistently the measure of the entire blogosphere.

and after quoting a statement made by Marshall Wittmann about “bloggers want to cleanse the party of any trace of centrism” Boo goes on to say “Now I think Wittman is coming closer to describing me than he is Markos.”

A little jealously there? True Markos is not about centrism cleansing, but that snip does go with “it’s always Marsha marsha marsha.”

Has anybody noticed that MLW is becoming “all meta all the time” no matter what the subject is about. It’s nothing more but attacks left and right. Alas, Armando’s spirit possesses those who dare to venture into MLW. Just a few STFU, folks can feel right at home.

Thanks, D. Throat, for posting the Tasini words. I couldnt remember if I had posted any here, however I posted some at DK and asked how the hell it could be that a “progressive” site was silent on such an outstanding progressive candidate – one whose positions should serve as a blueprint, I think, for the whole lot of our Dem Senate. I was told by several posters that it’s because there isnt enough push from the locals.

Even Wayne Madsen is crapping on Kos for going against Cynthia McKinney.

July 25, 2006 — More proof emerges of GOP dirty tricks against Cynthia McKinney….In addition, the Republicans are filling Hank Johnson’s (McKinney’s opponent) coffers with cash. Johnson is seen as a “Republicrat” and a person who will not question the Bush administration on anything substantial. Of course, true to form, DailyKos supports Johnson and his thinly-veiled GOP agenda as the information gatekeepers and perception managers they are.

July 24, 2006 — The phony Democrats and Fifth Columnists at Daily Kos are conducting a campaign against Georgia progressive Rep. Cynthia McKinney. The truth is that Daily Kos finds McKinney way too progressive, which is a standard reaction for a group that is supported by special interest money. Over here at WMR, we’re not so afraid as to hide our progressive politics. Please find some way to help McKinney beat back a special interests-funded challenge being waged from within the Democratic Party. The Hank Johnsons (McKinney’s out-of-state funded opponent) and DailyKoses are what are really wrong with the Democratic Party. It’s time for a good old-fashioned political party purge! If you live in the Georgia 4th District or neighboring districts in the Atlanta area you can help McKinney with your time in helping to get out the vote!

July 22/23, 2006 — Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney, facing a run-off with County Commissioner Hank Johnson on August 8, is being targeted by out-of-state money being funneled through law enforcement associations dedicated to her defeat. … WMR heartily endorses Cynthia McKinney for reelection and her “Refuse to Lose” campaign. Please visit her web site and help send a message to the racists, right-wingers, and oligarchs (that now, not surprisingly, includes those faux Democratic, Fifth Column Trojan horses at Daily Kos) that Hank Johnson, who is nothing more than another Clarence Thomas and Bill Cleveland, is unacceptable as a phony, corporate-controlled Democratic Congressman within the party of civil and human rights.

I’ve been saying for a while that the dominant narrative of Israel’s self-defense against “terror” softened the US up for, prepared the ground, for our response to 9/11 in Afghanistan (which got Booman’s panties all bunched up: ‘Didn’t you see the holes in the ground in Manahttan???’). Overwhelming military force as the only possible “logical” repsonse. Now the tales have dovetailed into an even more monlithic edifice. Bill Kristoll offers it up explicitly:

“Israelis are brimming with moral clarity, as we Americans were after 9/11.”

Yeah, NARAL’s endorsement of Chafee was so “moronic,” huh? Hey, interest groups, here’s the deal – endorse anyone other than the netboot’s pick, and you get called “morons.” Or “wankers.” Or some other temper tantrum expression.

I wqas driving home from SF Monday afternoon, listening to _____ (embarassed I forget her name — she did an amazing Arabic music program on KPFA in the late 80’s) who had organized a protest in Beirut, then hurried over to greet Rice when she arrived. When Bernstein relayed Rice’s ‘birth pangs’ remarks, all she could do was grimly laugh. She actually had me in tears zipping along I 80. Anyway, she was asking that everyone make four calls/day — to the congresscritters (too bad if they get annoyed hearing it) & to one friend, saying simply, No More . . .

I will reach through the vomit to vote for whomeever the dems throw up for prez in ’08 — make-up of the Supremes is that important to me — , but dammit, the gutless critters have got to go. That includes Boxer.

cstar
looks like somebody had the same idea you had, the only difference between your idea and theirs, their map is all of Lebanon. The blog is called Lebanon updates – blog – Updates on the aggression against lebanon. Their are a minute by minute of the attacks by Israel.

But I like the wiki idea, maybe we could talk with them about the idea and see what they say.

Thanks, that’s also useful. Although my proposal for an annotated map of Beirut was in some ways much less ambitious (in terms of information provided and the area covered) and in other ways more detailed (looking at block by block destruction of an Urban area).

There were several reasons why that annotated map would be useful. It would provides evidence of the destruction of part of a city in a manner reminiscent of urban destruction in past conflicts. A map of residential and commercial areas, with street names could bring the conflict and its destruction to a human scale. It is much less abstract. Meaningless abstractions: decency, clarity, democracy, freedom have destroyed political discourse. I can’t think in these terms anymore.

So.

At the age of 86, Noam Chomsky remains as active as ever in his work as a world-renowned political dissident and pioneering linguist. He has also opened a new chapter in his life, recently celebrating a one-year anniversary with his new wife, Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, his second marriage. Chomsky discusses the joys of newfound love and why it is a "pri […]

Noam Chomsky weighs in on the Black Lives Matter movement across the United States, calling it a response to the unresolved consequences of slavery and racism dating back hundreds of years. "[Slavery] is a large part of the basis for our wealth and privilege," Chomsky says. "Is there a slave museum in the United States? The first one is just b […]

Following its election in January on a pledge to confront the austerity program that's decimated Greece's economy, the Syriza government has faced a major pushback from international creditors led by Germany. Days after Greece secured a four-month extension to a loan package in exchange for new conditions on its spending, Noam Chomsky says the Euro […]

World-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky discusses why National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden should be welcomed back to the United States as a hero and why those who authorized the government surveillance he exposed should be on trial, not him. Chomsky also argues that while mass surveillance has been ineffective i […]

The Islamic State might be the best-funded radical Islamist group, perhaps in history, but the coalition air campaign that’s targeting its oil-refining operations and military assets has begun to damage…Click to Continue »

Former Iraqi War general David Petraeus is pleading guilty to mishandling classified information, apparently avoiding an embarrassing trial that would have included his affair with Paula Broadwell, according to documents…Click to Continue »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned a joint session of Congress on Tuesday that a potential deal with Iran will not prevent the country from securing nuclear weapons, threatening “the…Click to Continue »

At the annual American-Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, speakers advanced Iran as an existential threat and sought to downplay differences between Israel and the US while demonstrators were arrested outside

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bipartisan talks on a bill to streamline the passage of trade deals through Congress are "stuck" over Democratic demands, the Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday against accepting a nuclear deal with Iran that would be a "countdown to a potential nuclear nightmare" by a country that "will always be an enemy of America".

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner cleared the way for a vote as soon as Tuesday on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of the fiscal year, dealing a blow to conservative Republicans who wanted to include language blocking President Barack Obama's immigration actions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have violated federal records laws by using a personal email account for all of her work messages, the New York Times reported on Monday.

Media

from Howl

I'm with you in Rockland
where we wake up electrified out of the coma
by our own souls' airplanes roaring over the
roof they've come to drop angelic bombs the
hospital illuminates itself imaginary walls collapse
O skinny legions run outside O starry
spangled shock of mercy the eternal war is
here O victory forget your underwear we're free
I'm with you in Rockland
in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-
journey on the highway across America in tears
to the door of my cottage in the Western night

October 7 1955

"a remarkable collection of angelson one stage reading their poetry"
"I think Allen Ginsberg standing up there reading - putting himself on the line - was one of the two bravest things I've ever seen. Remember, it was '55. People had crew cuts, and they looked at you like you were misplaced cannon fodder. The country was being run by Luce publications. It was a dangerous, cold, ugly time, and it was scary. . .
In all our memories no one had been so outspoken in poetry before. We had gone beyond a point of no return. None of us wanted to go back to the grey, chill, militaristic silence, to the intellectual void - to the land without poetry - to the spiritual drabness. We wanted to make it new and we wanted to invent it and the process of it as we went into it. We wanted voice and we wanted vision."
-Michael McClure

Democrats…

Same as goddam fucking forever.
Over and over, in election year after election year, GE and MidTerms both… the Dems start to purr and preen, they stretch luxuriously - at just being TOLD they are going to win [...]
It never fails.
... in February of 2002, looking over the already joyless congressional stragglers willing to be drafted for duty… they barely dreamed, yet, it was even possible (Howard, a different person then, had not arrived to say it could be done)… but one thing was clear, we could not rely on the party to swing it. Could not. You could smell it, they would screw the deal. And I am not talking about Howard and primary issues here. By the end, that was a passing political story. Chuck it on the heap.
[...]
Upshot? The Republicans make it thru. They hold on.